It's not unusual to see a number of shows with ghostly themes or characters pop up around Halloween. What is unique is an original, full-length musical designed especially for this time of year. That's what Jim Christian, director of Weber State University's musical theater program, has created.

The result is "Sleepy Hollow," an adaptation of Washington Irving's classic story, with book and lyrics by Christian and music by Tom Edward Clark, currently premiering at WSU. The production, also directed and choreographed by Christian, shows off the impressive singing and acting abilities of the students in WSU's program, one of the best in the Intermountain West.

Most are probably familiar with the story, although Christian gives it some interesting new twists, especially in the second act. Ichabod Crane (Addison Welch) is Sleepy Hollow's new schoolmaster, but he's unprepared to deal with either the rusticity of its residents or the strangeness of its history. A witch who once lived there put a curse on the village, and it's haunted by poltergeists and ghosts, among them the ominous Headless Horseman.

Because he is educated and an outsider, the villagers hope that Crane can overcome the curse, but his arrogance and priggish self-righteousness alienate them, especially after he tries to steal Katrina Van Tassel (Emilie Starr) away from her fiancé, Brom Van Bron (B. J. Whimpey). Everything comes to a head on a Halloween night when the villagers gather to tell what appear to be ghost stories but are really a litany of the losses they have suffered.

The production moves well, although the first act takes a very long time to set everything up; there is so much music that the songs begin to sound alike. The second act is much tighter and really takes off, pulling us directly into the emotional lives of the characters.

The performances are first rate. This is a large ensemble, and the music is challenging, full of complex melodies and counterpoint, but everyone in the cast is uniformly up to it. Almost all the ensemble have solo moments to showcase their characters, but they work equally well as a group, thanks to Christian's and musical director Lindsey Snarr's in-sync guidance.

As in Sondheim's "Into the Woods," which it resembles, the music carries the story in "Sleepy Hollow." Some of the standout numbers are the students' first encounter with Crane at the school, which is very animated; Katrina's solo, "Beyond the Hollow," where she struggles whether to sacrifice personal happiness to save the town; and Gusta Tenbrook's solo when she agonizes over the disappearance of her children. Angela Jeffries commands the stage here, and we feel her loss.

Jaime Frank's set with its enormous trees, full harvest moon, and woodsy set pieces looks eerie or homey depending on the intensity of Van Tinkham's atmospheric lighting. Catherine Zublin's russet and brown period costumes lend an autumn feel.

Although it's long and somewhat uneven, "Sleepy Hollow" has moments of brilliance that transcend its limitations. Its debut marks a noteworthy addition to the Halloween repertoire.